A Royal Funeral
A Royal Funeral
(No. 2390)
A SERMON INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, DECEMBER 9, 1894.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
OCTOBER 7, 1888.
"And after this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but
secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might take away
the body of Jesus: and Pilate ga ve him leave. He came, therefore, and
took the body of Jesus. And there came, also, Nicodemus, which at the
first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes,
about an hundred pounds weight. Then took they the body of Jesus and
wound it in linen strips with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is
to bury. Nowin theplace where He was crucified there was a garden; and
in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein was never man yet laid. There
laid they Jesus, therefore, because of the Jews'preparation day; for
the sepulcher was near at hand." John 19:38-42.
LET US go to this grave, but not to weep there–no, not to shed so much
as a single tear! The stone is rolled away, our Lord's precious body is
not there, for Christ has risen from the dead! It may be that, like
Mary at the sepulcher, we shall see a vision of angels, but if not, we
may behold a company of comforting Truths of God which still linger
about the empty tomb of our ascended Lord!
We are expressly told, in Holy Scripture, that our Lord was buried. It
was evidently not sufficient for us merely to be told that He died–we
must also know that He was buried. Why was this? Was it not, first,
that we might have a certificate of His death? We do not bury living
men and the Lord Jesus would not have been buried if the Centurion had
not certified that He was certainly dead. The Roman officer had
probably seen Christ's heart pierced by the soldier's spear, when blood
and water flowed forth from His side. At any rate, when his men went to
execute the coup de grace, which finished the lives of the other two,
by the breaking of their legs, they were so certain that He who hung in
the middle was really dead that they broke not His legs. Christ's being
given up for burial was Pilate's certificate that He had not merely
pretended to die, but that it was a real death and that His body had no
life remaining in it. This is an essential point, for if Jesus did not
die, He has made no Atonement for sin. If He died not, then He rose
not–and if He rose not, then your faith is vain, you are yet in your
sins! The sepulcher, therefore, occupies a very important place in the
story of the death of Jesus.
Again, was He not buried to fulfill a type which He had, Himself,
chosen? Like as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of
the fish, in the heart of the sea, even so was the Son of Man to lie
for that time in the heart of the earth. The casting of the runaway
Prophet into the sea quieted the angry waves–the tempest fell asleep
when he was given up as a victim–and Christ's being cast into the sea
of death has quieted the storm of almighty wrath! We sail, today, as on
a sea of glass because Christ was buried in those awful billows. He
must fulfill the type of Jonah, or else He spoke not aright concerning
Himself when He said, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a
sign and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the
Prophet Jonah."
Further, was not our Lord buried to make His battle with death and His
triumph over it more complete? He has conquered death, but He has also
burst open the castle of death, that is the grave. He has bearded the
lion in his den, the Douglas in his hall. In this matchless duel, He
has set Himself to fight not only with death, but with death and the
grave combined–and hence the paean of victory is not merely, "O death,
where is your sting?" but it is also, "O grave, where is your victory?"
Christ's victory is altogether complete. He has led captivity captive,
because He became a captive. He has vanquished all death's allies, as
well as death, itself, by going down into the grave and rending its
bars asunder.
Beside all this, did not our Lord die and condescend to be buried, to
sweeten the grave for His people? Rightly did we sing just now
concerning the tomb–
"There the dear flesh of Jesus lay, And left a long perfume."
Unless the Lord should speedily come, as He may–God grant that He
may!–we shall fall asleep and these bodies of ours will be committed
to the silence of the grave. We must not dare to dread the
sepulcher–where Christ has been, we may safely and honorably go. As I
told you, the other day, He left the fine linen to be the furniture of
our last bed. He left the napkin rolled up by itself, that weeping
friends might dry their tears thereon. He also left the myrrh and
aloes, about one hundred pounds' weight, which Nicodemus brought. I
never heard that they were taken away from the tomb–Jesus left them
there and they still shed their sweet fragrance throughout the graves
of all His saints! We are not going to a noisome vault, but to a
perfumed chamber hung with the fine linen sheets that encompassed the
Christ, and odorous with the spices that shed their sweetness upon Him!
To die is now our gain–to sleep in Jesus is to be blest, indeed!
I may add, also, that I think our Lord was buried so that, from His
tomb, He might leap to His Throne. He goes to the lowest depths that
from there He may rise to the loftiest heights! You, too, Believer, may
go as low as the grave, but you can never go any lower–and when you
are at your lowest, you are then on your way to your highest! Your Lord
stooped to conquer, so must you. You will have won the victory over
death when you lie, stark and cold, upon your last bed. The adversary
may think that he has defeated you–
"When silent is your pleading tongue And blind that piercing eye,"
and inactive that once diligent hand, but it is not so–you shall then
have broken loose from everything that hinders you from entering upon
your highest service for your Lord–and you shall have entered that
Holy Place where you shall see His face and serve Him day and night in
His glorious Temple!
I like to think of Jesus as going down into the lowest parts of the
earth when I remember that He that descended is the same who also
ascended. This should encourage us to feel that, sink as we may, lower
and yet still lower, we shall rise all the higher because of that
sinking–and shall enter still more completely into fellowship with
Christ both in His sufferings and in His Glory! It was necessary, then,
my Brothers and Sisters, that there should be a new tomb in the garden
close by Golgotha and that our Lord should lie there. It is a very
wonderful thing that He, whose face is the light of Heaven, whose hands
are sceptered with the government of the universe and whose very feet
are sandaled with the stars, should yet bear the image of death upon
His pale Countenance and should lie there lifeless, to be handled by
others, and to be wrapped as any other dead man might be, in fine linen
and sweet spices.
But my subject at this time is concerning the wonderful working of God
with regard to the burial of Jesus. The Providence of God began with
the body of Christ from the very first, even from His Conception, and
it followed Him right to the last, even to His burial. You see the Holy
Child in the manger and you notice how all things round about minister
strangely to Him. Throughout His life all things worked together for
His good–not to screen Him from suffering, but to cause Him to
suffer–and to make Him triumphant through those sufferings! And when
He came to die, I see the finger of God displayed at every part of that
dread tragedy. But now that He is dead, will that kind Providence
forsake Him? Ah, no!
I want to stop here and say to you who anxiously ask, "What will become
of me when I die? I am so very poor and needy"–never think about that
matter–you have enough to do to trust God till you die! As to what is
to become of your body when you are dead, never fret about that! It is
wonderful how God takes care of the very dust and ashes of His chosen,
how, sometimes, they receive in death respect and honor which they
never thought would have come to them, and after they have passed away,
their children and their household are blessed of God for their sake.
The God of the living forsakes not His saints in dying, or after death!
As Ruth would cleave to Naomi and said, "Where you die, I will die, and
there will I be buried," so, with greater faithfulness, does God cleave
to His people! He will see them buried and take care of their children
after they are gone. This is His comforting promise, "Leave your
fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; and let your widows
trust in Me."
Now let me remind you how God took care of the First-Born among many
brethren. Jesus is dead and in the hands of wicked men. The
executioners have Him in their charge, those same executioners who just
now broke the legs of the two thieves, have hold of Christ! But that
precious body must be preserved, not a bone of Him must be broken, no
disrespect
must be paid to that Immaculate Being. Death and Hell would have
reveled in insulting Christ's body if they could. As Achilles dragged
Hector by the heels round the walls of Troy, so would Satan have liked
that men should have mauled the dead body of Christ. He would have cast
Him to the dogs or to the vultures if he could have had his way, but so
it must not be! Many a man who has been a prince has been buried with
the burial of an ass, but this great Savior, whom men despised, must
have a royal funeral! How is He to have it? That is the point I wish to
bring to your notice and, before I have finished my discourse, I hope I
shall be able to prove to you that everything required for Christ's
burial was supplied.
I. The first requisite was SOMEONE TO OBTAIN THE BODY.
The law has executed Jesus, though wrongfully, and His body, therefore,
belongs to the executioner, or, at any rate, to the law. Who is to
rescue that precious body from the clutches of the law? Ah, you may
look your eyes out, but you cannot see the man who can accomplish this
task–yet God knows where He is! There is one Joseph, who has an estate
at Arimathea, a wealthy man, a member of the Sanhedrim, "an honorable
counselor." He appears upon the scene and he is the right man to do
what is required, for he is a secret disciple. He has great respect for
that dead body, for he had great regard for Jesus while He was alive.
As we look Joseph up and down, we say, "Yes, if he will do his best, he
is the very man for this emergency." He is under great arrears of
obligation to his Lord, whom he scarcely acknowledged in His
lifetime–yet he is a real disciple. Joseph, if you can do anything in
this matter, we give you this solemn charge–go and get the body of
Christ.
He was, besides, an official and influential. Therefore he could gain
an entrance where a private person could not. And, what was still more
to the point with such a man as Pilate, he was a rich man, for in those
days, in the courts, everything went by favor. The poor man's cause
might be just, yet he could not secure a hearing. But the gold in a
rich man's hand would speak more loudly than the most convincing
arguments upon a poor man's tongue. So this secret disciple is the one
to beg the body of Jesus because he is an honorable counselor and also
because he is rich. If he is willing to undertake the task, he is the
man to accomplish it.
But my heart misgives me, for Joseph has been secretly a disciple and,
therefore, I conclude that he must be very timid. During the last two
years or so, he has really been a follower of Christ, and yet he has
stayed in the council. He has been a member of the Sanhedrim, yet he
has not spoken out against its evil deeds! Ah, me, I am afraid that he
will not be able to go and speak to Pilate. But note, Brothers and
Sisters, what Mark tells us about him–"Joseph of Arimathea went in
boldly unto Pilate and craved the body of Jesus." God can make a coward
bold as a lion in the day when He needs him! And this good man, full of
honor and abounding in wealth, said, "I will go to Pilate." Why, this
cruel vacillating governor will put a man to death if he aggravates
him! Who knows how this interview may end?
But Joseph says, "I will go to Pilate." He obtains admittance and he
asks for the body of Jesus. Pilate exclaims, "Why, He is not dead yet!"
"Yes, He is," answers Joseph, "I have seen Him die." When the Centurion
comes, he certifies that He is dead. Pilate cannot imagine what Joseph
can want with a dead man's bones, but he says, "You may have His body.
Take Him down, you may have Him." So Joseph comes back to the Cross. He
has proven that he was the very man for this work. We would never have
thought of him, but God had him in reserve for the hour of need and
brought him to the front at the right moment!
Now you see Joseph hurrying away from Pilate's Hall to the hill of
Calvary, where the crosses are still standing. He has, in his hand, the
order signed by the governor. He shows it to the officer in charge and
he is a man of such prominence, so well known as an honorable
counselor, an official gentleman and a person of wealth, that everybody
is ready to help him. He, himself, is probably first and foremost in
raising the ladder, helping to pull out the great nails, and to let
down the blessed body. He is the man for this work, for he is
objectionable to nobody. He has been a counselor, so that those on the
side of the Sanhedrim do not object to him. The holy women stand
watching him, but they have no fears as to his action–they know him,
for he has probably done them many a kindness privately in days gone
by–and they know that he has been a secret disciple of the Lord. He
has brought with him fine white linen which he was well able to buy. He
reverently takes the body of Jesus down from the Cross and tenderly
wraps it round with the costly winding-sheets which he has
purchased–and so this trying business is finished without interference
from anyone.
I hope that these details do not seem trivial to you, for nothing is
trivial that concerns our Lord and His cause. In the Tabernacle and the
Temple, even the nails had to be duly prepared, and I think that, in
this matter of providing a suit-
able person to go and get the body of Jesus out of the hand of the
legal custodian, we ought to admire the wonderful goodness of God!
Depend upon it, if, at any other time, there should be some great and
terrible task to be accomplished, God will find the man to do it! If
one shall be needed, by-and-by, at peril of his life to bear witness
for Christ, the right person will be found! And until this chapter of
Divine Providence shall come to an end in our Lord's eternal Glory,
there shall never be a crisis, however crucial, but the man shall be
found whom God wants, or the woman who is to occupy the place which the
Lord has for her to fill!
Thus, Joseph has obtained the body of Jesus from the hands of Pilate
and he may do what he will with it–that is the first point.
II. The next requisite is SOMEONE TO BURY THE BODY.
We do not want one man to carry away that body and lay it in the grave,
for such a person as Jesus should have an honorable funeral. Now see
what happens! There is another man, also a counselor, "a ruler of the
Jews," "a master of Israel," yet another secret disciple who had come
to Jesus by night–he appears at just this very moment! "There came,
also, Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night." Now we
have two mourners for our Master's funeral. James and John–where are
you? They cannot hear my question! Peter and Bartholomew, where are
you? They are too far away–they cannot hear me. Who will follow the
body of Jesus to the grave? Who will be chief mourner? There are some
gracious women, brave enough to stand afar off, and willing enough, if
beckoned, to come and join the sad cortege that attends the corpse to
the tomb. But how honorable to Christ was it that the first two and the
chief mourners on that sorrowful occasion should be two members of the
Sanhedrim–Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus–two men of note, two
reputable individuals who were held in honor even among the Jews who
crucified Christ!
First, let me say of these two men who attended the burial of our Lord,
that they did Him honor. Thus was fulfilled Isaiah's prophecy, "He made
His grave with the wicked, and with the rich in His death; because He
had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth." All the
while until Christ had paid the dreadful price of our redemption, He
was despised and rejected of men, but as soon as He could say, "It is
finished," and the debt was fully paid, He must not be despised and
rejected any more! Now, rich men must come and do Him homage and,
accordingly, Joseph and Nicodemus came. It may seem only a little
thing, but it indicates the turn of the tide, just as the floating of a
straw may do. Jesus is no longer derided, nor even attended only by the
poorest and most obscure of Galileans, but Joseph from Arimathea, and
Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews, attend the funeral of the great Lord
and Savior of men–and so pay such honor as they can to His dead body!
While they thus did Him honor, they received from Him much more honor.
Ah, my Brothers and Sisters, it was a great privilege that was accorded
to these two men! I stand and wonder how it was that this position was
allotted to two who had kept so long behind the scenes. They had
lost–they had lost–I cannot tell you how much they had lost, two,
perhaps three years of constant fellowship with Christ and of
instruction from His own dear lips! They had lost incalculably! They
were in the rear of all Christ's disciples–Mary Magdalene was in front
of them, the woman that was a sinner was far ahead of them–they were
right in the rear rank. Yet their Master, in the splendor of His Grace,
gives them this privilege even while He, Himself, lies dead! To them is
accorded the high honor of handling His blessed flesh and laying Him in
the tomb.
I am afraid that some of you secret Christians who never come out
boldly for Christ will not have such an honor as this. If the Lord ever
uses you at all, it will be in some sad business such as a funeral–but
even that will be an honor to you, if you are permitted to attend Him
in His death though you have not shared the glory of His life. You
lose–oh, you lose incalculable gifts by not acknowledging your
discipleship! Yet I pray that there may come a time and that it may
come at once, when even you will come out and do what you can for your
Lord, saying to yourself, "Now is the hour when even I, timid as I am,
must acknowledge Him." When soul murder is in your streets, when heresy
is in your pulpits, when apostasy is in your churches, you are
unfaithful to the last grain of your spiritual manhood if you who love
Christ do not come out boldly on His side and declare that you belong
to Him! If you never have confessed Him before men and you neglect this
opportunity, wherein there is the greatest and most urgent of need, I
fear that you will never acknowledge Him at all.
Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were both needed for this sad task
and though we should never have thought of inviting them to perform it,
yet they were the only two men connected with Christ who were exactly
fitted for the office.
And, as I have said, they thus honored Christ and He thus honored them.
I should also say, Brothers and Sisters, that among all the disciples,
there were no more sincere mourners for Christ then these two men. I
think that I hear Joseph fetch a deep sigh and say, "Ah, Nicodemus, how
wicked I have been, for I have not been with Christ as I ought to have
been! I ought to have gone with Him to prison and to death. Instead of
that, I have been among the ungodly, rich and honored." "Ah," says
Nicodemus, "and I went to Him by night and He talked so sweetly to me,
but I have been hiding away ever since. I feel ashamed to touch this
blessed blood-stained hand. I realize that it is a high honor to be
allowed to handle these dear feet and to wrap the linen all about them,
but I do not deserve such an honor, I am sure." And they would stop and
weep, and sigh again, to think of how they had ill-treated their Lord,
by what they may have thought was modesty, but which conscience now
tells them was nothing else than shameful cowardice!
And I do not think that out of all Christ's followers, there were any
who would be more tender with that blessed body, for they were
gentlemen. They were not countrymen or fishermen, used to handling and
being handled roughly–they were of a more tender mold, and when they
looked on that dear form, how gently would they treat it! Being also
men of property, they would have many servants able to help them in all
sorts of ways. In His wonderful interment, our Lord Jesus could not
have been better attended, nor have been buried by men who would have
performed the mournful duty with more solemn feelings, more hushed
reverence. They loved Him, yet felt that they had acted in an unloving
manner towards Him and, now, they also felt that the best they could
possibly do was all too little for the Blessed One who had sealed the
forgiveness of their cowardice by permitting Himself to be entrusted to
their hands.
I can see great love about this dead Christ, and great pity, and great
kindness, that even His lifeless body would be giving life to the faith
and hope of Joseph and Nicodemus and should be firing them with fresh
ardor! While they looked upon His corpse, they must have been compelled
to resolve that never more would they be ashamed of Him whom they had
helped to lay in the grave.
So far we have, in imagination, brought our Lord Jesus Christ into the
hands of two most suitable persons to bury
Him.
III. The next requisite is THE MATERIALS NECESSARY FOR THE BURIAL.
The manner of the Jews is to bury the body wrapped in strips of fine
white linen–where is that? I do not believe that Peter has a yard of
it anywhere. I hardly think that James and John have anything much
finer than fishermen's coats and so forth. Fine linen–let it be the
best that can be bought! Let it be white as snow for wrapping around
this perfect body! But where is it to be obtained? Joseph has it! He is
a man of wealth, who can get anything that is needed, and he has
brought with him the best winding sheets in which to wrap the Savior's
body.
But we must also have mixed spices in abundance, fifty pounds' weight
at the least. "Oh," says Nicodemus, "I have brought one hundred pounds'
weight with me, and if I could have found a conveyance, and more spices
had not been superfluous, I would have brought many hundred pounds
weight of myrrh and aloes, well mingled according to the art of
apothecary, with which to surround that blessed form."
See, my Brothers, Christ needed for nothing when He was dead–do you
think that He will need anything while He is alive? "Ah, but our little
Church, our poor cause, is needing money badly and we are going to get
up a bazaar." What? And you have not thought about going to your Lord
for what you lack? The fact is, the Church of God has been looking to
the devil to find funds for the Lord's work instead of seeking aid from
the Lord, Himself! It is a pity that we cannot come back to Him who,
even when He was dead, had a hundred pounds' weight of myrrh and aloes
brought to Him! Cannot we trust Him for all that is required for His
service? It will be a better and a brighter day for the Church when she
believes that if Christ needs myrrh and aloes, He can get them! Does
not the Lord say, "The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine…Every
beast of the forest is Mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills…If
I were hungry, I would not tell you: for the world is Mine, and the
fullness thereof"? Let us go forth to fight the Lord's battles without
any doubts concerning the commissariat of His army! He can provide and
He will provide–only let us trust Him and not go down to Egypt for
help, nor lean upon an arm of flesh.
As Nicodemus gave so freely to the dead Christ, how generously ought
you and I to give to our living Lord! If we have anything in the world,
let us give it all to Christ. Even if we have nothing left but a grave,
which we have provided for our own funeral, yet let us surrender that,
as Joseph did when he gave up his new tomb that his Lord and Master
might lie therein.
Thus, you see, that all that is needed for Christ's burial is there
already! So I leave that part of our subject and go on to the next.
IV. Another requisite is A PLACE WHEREIN TO BURY THE BODY. We have the
body, Pilate has given us that. We have the spices and the fine linen
and we have the two men ready to bury the body. Now we need a tomb.
It would be very convenient and also very important, if we could get a
sepulcher near at hand because, you see, if the body of Christ had to
be carried a long way to be buried, the Jews would say, "Ah, they
switched it on the road! They took it a mile or two out of the city and
the Christ who rose from the dead is not the Christ that was buried."
But here, just at the bottom of this rocky hill which is called
Golgotha, there is a garden, and in that garden there is a tomb. Hark
the Providence of God in this matter, for that tomb belongs to Joseph,
and there the Savior's body is lovingly laid! He did not and He could
not lack a tomb when it was required! When the time came for Him to be
buried, the sepulcher was there already prepared, hewn out of the rock!
It would also be a great advantage if it could be a new tomb, wherein
never was anybody buried, for if they buried Him in an old tomb, the
Jews would say that He had touched the bones of some Prophet or other
holy man and so came to life. Ah, well, Joseph's is a new tomb–there
are no bones there, for nobody has ever been buried there before!
It would seem, too, to be the proper thing for our Lord to have a tomb
in a rock. You cannot fitly put Him in sand who is, Himself, the Rock
of Ages. No, let our Lord Jesus, with that grand Immutable Love and
eternal faithfulness of His, let Him lie in the solid rock! There it
is, all ready for Him, just the very kind of tomb that is needed for
Him who is the Rock of our salvation!
If it should also be a tomb in a garden, there would be a touch of
familiar beauty about that arrangement. One likes that the very
surroundings of Christ's grave should be instructive. I cannot stop to
tell you about all the beauty and the instruction which cluster around
a garden–the gardens of Scripture, especially, are most fruitful
subjects, and our Lord's garden-tomb might suggest to us a most
profitable theme for meditation.
Thus, Christ's tomb is the very thing we would wish for Him. In no
secondhand grave, in no town ditch, in no pauper's grave dug out of the
earth, but in a rich man's sepulcher, worthy of a king–it is there
that the Christ must lie! See how God provides for His Son and learn
how He will provide for you. If He provides for His Son when dead, He
will provide for you while living–therefore be comforted whatever your
condition may be!
V. There is one more difficulty and, perhaps, it is the worst of all,
for it concerns THE TIME FOR THE BURIAL. You see, it is very late in
the afternoon and, besides, it is the "preparation" for a very
important Sabbath, and these good people cannot do any work on the
Sabbath–their consciences will not permit them to do so, for they are
strict Jews. But it so happened that they obtained the body just in
time to wrap it round about with the spices and with the linen, and
then we are told, "There laid they Jesus, therefore, because of the
Jews' preparation day; for the sepulcher was near at hand." To me, it
is a very pretty thought that when there was so little time, the place
of burial was so near. It would have taken all the lingering twilight
to have carried Jesus far, but the right place was near! Providence
knew all about the difficulty and provided for it!
Next, they could not take much time with the body and the ceremony was
the more fitting for Christ's rising. Beloved, whenever you cannot do
anything for your Lord as you would like to do, do the best you can and
you may depend upon it, that you have done just what ought to be done!
"Oh, no!" they say, "Oh, no! We would have liked to have wrapped Him up
much more leisurely and more delicately–we would have made a finished
work of embalming that precious body." Listen! Nothing more was needed.
Jesus was not going to be in the sepulcher long. God's Holy One could
not see corruption! He did not need to be embalmed, for He was to be up
again so soon and, therefore, a hurried burial was quite sufficient.
Listen again–there is another thing worth mentioning. The
incompleteness brought them early to the sepulcher. If they do not
finish their task of love on the evening of the Crucifixion, they will
be there early in the morning, when the Sabbath is over, to complete
it! That was precisely what was needed, that, as soon as the Master was
risen, on that first day of the week, they should be there to see
Him–but they would not have been there to see Him, perhaps, if they
had not come, as the holy women did, with more spices to finish the
work which had been, comparatively speaking, so roughly and hurriedly
done on that dread evening!
It was all right and I drew much comfort and joy out of this fact when
I was thinking it over. I said to myself, "Sometimes I am so oppressed
with the care of the many things entrusted to me that I cannot study my
sermon as I would like." Perhaps it is all the better for that–the
Master does not need studied sermons. It may also be that it suits the
hearer all the better. If you cannot bury Christ as you would like to
because there is not time, when you have done the best that you could,
and sorrowed over it, you have done the very thing that your Lord wants
you to do! Rest content with that and just say to yourself, "He takes
the will for the deed, and all my blundering and mistakes He overlooks
because I did it all out of love for His dear name."
I have talked thus to you about Christ's dead body. Oh, that I had an
opportunity of speaking to you about Him as the living Lord! But as I
cannot, for our time is gone, I would ask you to just stoop down and,
in faith and love, kiss those wounds, admire that pierced hand, that
other hand, that nailed foot, that other foot, that side with the spear
gash, that dear face with closed eyes and then say, "He bore all this
for me–what have I done for Him? "God bless you! Amen.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: Mark15:34-47; John19:38-42; 1 Corinthians
15:1-9.
Concerning the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall read in three
portions of the New Testament. First, in the Gospel according to Mark,
the 15th chapter, beginning at the 34th verse.
Mark 15:34. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice,
saying, Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My
God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? It is, "My El, My strong God, My
mighty One, why have You forsaken Me?"–the most bitter words that were
ever uttered by mortal lips–and expressing the quintessence of agony.
Alas, that my Savior should ever have had to say as much as this when
He hung upon the Cross, suffering and dying for me!
35. And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold,
He calls Elijah. Did they misunderstand His bitter cry of woe? Could
they mistake what He meant? Was it not, on the part of these people
that stood by, a willful wicked witticism upon what our Lord Jesus had
said? We fear that it was so.
36, 37. And one ran and filled a sponge full of vinegar, and put it on
a reed, and gave Him to drink, saying, Let Him alone; let us see
whether Elijah will come to take Him down. And Jesus cried with a loud
voice, and gave up the ghost. His last words were, "It is finished."–
"It is finished!"–Oh what pleasure Do these charming words afford!
Heavenly blessings without measure Flow to us from Christ the Lord–
'It is finished!'
Saints, the dying words record."
38, 39. And the veil of the Temple was rent in two from the top to the
bottom. And when the Centurion, who stood over against Him. The officer
who had charge of the arrangements for the execution–"when the
Centurion, who stood over against Him"–
39, Saw that He so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly
this Man was the Son of God. Probably saying a great deal more than he
understood! There was something so extraordinary about this central
Sufferer that the Centurion could not understand who He could be unless
He was truly, "the Son of God."
40, 41. There were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary
Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses and
Salome; (Who also, when He was in Galilee, followed Him, and ministered
unto Him), and many other women which came up with Him unto Jerusalem.
Where was Peter? We know that John was near the Cross, but James and
the rest of the Apostles were apparently hiding away. But the holy
women were there!
42,43. And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation,
that is the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable
counselor, which also waited for the Kingdom of God, came, and went in
boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. I have no doubt that
Pilate was very surprised that a member of the Sanhedrim should come
and ask for the body of Jesus, when, a little while before, he had put
Him to death, really, by the mandate of that body of men!
44, 45. And Pilate marveled if He were already dead: and calling unto
him the Centurion, he asked him whether He had been any while dead. And
when he knew it of the Centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. This very
Centurion who had declared that Jesus was the Son of God now came
forward to bear witness that he had seen Him die. And then Pilate told
Joseph that he might go and take the body.
46. And he bought fine linen. This was probably the first time that
fine linen had touched the flesh of the Son of Man–He had been
accustomed to much coarser stuff in His lifetime–but now Joseph
"bought fine linen."
46, 47. And took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen, and laid Him
in a sepulcher which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone into
the door of the sepulcher. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of
Joses beheld where He was laid. That is Mark's account of our Lord's
death and burial, very terse and very suggestive. Let us now read
John's description of the sad scene.
John 19:38-40. And after this, Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of
Jesus, but secretly, for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate that he might
take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came,
therefore, and took the body of Jesus. And there came also Nicodemus,
which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of
myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. Then took they the body
of Jesus. Oh, how tenderly and with how many tears, did they take their
Lord's body from the Cross!
40-42. And wound it in linen strips with the spices, as the manner of
the Jews is to bury. Now in the place where He was crucified there was
a garden; and in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein was never man yet
laid. There laid they Jesus, therefore, because of the Jews'
preparation day; for the sepulcher was near at hand. John's Gospel
contains some particulars not mentioned by Mark. And the same may be
said of Matthew's account and Luke's. Read them all when you are home
and ponder the wonderful story! The Apostle Paul, speaking of our
Lord's Resurrection, mentions His burial. We will now read in his first
Epistle to the Corinthians, just a few verses from the 15th chapter.
1 Corinthians 15:1. Moreover, brethren I declare unto you the
Gospel–Mark that Paul writes concerning "the Gospel." We shall see now
what, "the Gospel" is.
1-3. Which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and
wherein you stand, by which also you are saved, if you keep in memory
what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. For I
delivered unto you, first of all, that which I also received, how that
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. That is the
central Truth of the Gospel.
4. And that He was buried. That is an essential part of the Gospel.
4. And that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
This is the bright light of the Gospel, the Resurrection of our Lord
from the dead–
5-9. And that He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that, He
was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater
part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that,
He was seen of James; then of all the Apostles. And last of all He was
seen of me, also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of
the Apostles, that am not meet to be called an Apostle, because I
persecuted the Church of God. Yet He was one among the many testifiers
to the fact that Jesus really died, was buried and rose from the dead,
of which we will speak more particularly, by-and-by.